The Winters is a compelling, subtly atmospheric story about an unnamed young woman who gets swept off her feet by wealthy American senator Max Winter, only to realize when she moves into his estate that she must contend with his unhappy daughter Dani and the pervasive influence of Max’s first wife Rebekah. It’s a contemporary retelling of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, which I haven’t read, but have heard is one of the creepiest mystery novels ever written.

The Winters isn’t quite creepy, nor is it a page turner of a thriller. Rather, the menace in the Winter family seems to thrum just beneath the surface. Dani’s dislike of her future stepmother is evident, but there are enough clues dropped along the way that we realize that Dani isn’t the entire cause of the narrator’s problems. Max is super charming and mostly a really sweet lover, with the exception of a Beauty and the Beast-like obsession that the narrator never set foot in some areas of the estate. While he explains away his bursts of temper as simply grief over his dead wife and frustration over Dani’s brattiness, it’s soon pretty clear that he isn’t as perfect as the narrator seems to think.

I think I was expecting more of a ghostly, gothic feel to this book, but instead it felt mostly sad. Dani is such a troubled character, and the narrator is trying so hard to fit into the family, that I actually felt for them both, even as I sympathized with the narrator’s frustration over Dani’s attitude. In many ways, the story felt like a family drama playing out, where if I didn’t know the original Rebecca was supposed to be creepy, I might’ve wondered a lot more how the family dynamics would have resolved.

The last few chapters turn full-on thriller, and while the big reveal wasn’t too much of a surprise, I did like the way the story built up to it and caught me up in the narrator’s emotions.

The Winters is a compelling story, and Gabriele has created a cast of fascinating characters. I don’t know quite how it compares to Rebecca, but I really enjoyed the story overall.

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Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Corner of Holly and Ivy is a second-chance romance between two former high school sweethearts whose family members are political rivals in their small town. Fair warning that this book is part of a larger series, which doesn’t often matter, but in this case, I wouldn’t recommend reading this one until you’ve read the earlier books. There was so much back story and all so dramatic and seemingly central to the plot (a fire that razed the town’s Main Street, a stalker that menaced the heroine’s cousin, a political dynasty family that has a LOT of subtext-type stories going on) that I found myself lost for a lot of the book. It didn’t help that there was also a large cast of characters, and while I’m sure long-time readers of this series will enjoy seeing familiar faces pop up, since I was coming in cold, I found myself playing catch up far more than I should have had to.

The book is also being marketed as a heartwarming holiday romance, which I think sets up some expectations that the book doesn’t quite meet. There are some holiday scenes, and an adorable holiday cover with a puppy, but the story as a whole doesn’t really have a holiday feel. I also often expect holiday romances to be somewhat lighthearted, and so I was taken aback by how angsty this book felt right from the get-go. The heroine Arianna lost her dress shop in a fire and her injuries are so bad that she can no longer design dresses like she used to, so she’s in a pretty dark psychological place because of that. Part of me appreciated Mason’s deep dive into the very real psychological impacts of losing one’s dream, but at the same time, it’s a bit jarring when you’re expecting something more fluffy.

I do like the emotional complexity of the characters, and how both Arianna and Connor have to deal with some very real issues around family, career and self-esteem. Connor is wonderfully patient and caring, and I love how good he is for Arianna. I also found Arianna’s grandmother hilarious, and would totally read a romance starring her as the heroine.

There are also some elements that require suspension of disbelief. The biggest for me was the town council’s proposed solution to the possibility of a tie at the mayoral election. I see why that solution worked for the plot, and I can just about convince myself that small towns operate with their own rules, but it was a pretty big stretch for me. There’s also a matchmaking ghost who doesn’t really do too much, which makes me wonder if she’s simply a thread tying the whole series together. And finally, as someone who volunteers at a cat rescue, one character’s gesture of surprising another with a puppy struck me more as irresponsible than sweet. If the recipient really doesn’t like puppies, or really isn’t ready to make that level of commitment, it’ll be the puppy who suffers, and while it worked out great in this book, it made me wince.

Still, I really liked the ending. I thought the last few chapters felt really sweet and heartwarming, and I just wish the lead up had been just as enjoyable for me.

This is a good romance. Just make sure you read the earlier books in the series first, and don’t expect the romance to be holiday-themed.

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Thank you to Forever Romance for an egalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a sweet romance, about a couple who must make compromises on their ways of life in order to be together. Leah is an Amish midwife who strongly believes in the power of traditional remedies and prayer, and Kyle is a doctor who believes in the latest medical technologies. I love the way their friendship and respect for each other’s abilities as a healer developed slowly over time. Even though they each ultimately have very different approaches to healing, I like that both care about their patients enough to be flexible. Leah is willing to take a patient to a clinic when the situation becomes too serious for traditional cures, and Kyle does his research and learns that there are actually a lot of similarities between Leah’s mixtures and pharmaceutical medicines. I also like that their physical attraction is very much also rooted in mutual respect.

I also love that both have to decide whether their love for each other is worth compromising what they believe they’ve always wanted. Leah is very devoted to her Amish faith, and so marrying an Englischer like Kyle may estrange her from the community she loves. And Kyle has always dreamed of working in a big city hospital, so settling down in a small Amish town may mean having to give up that dream. Leah’s also hiding a secret related to a painful incident in Kyle’s past, though I’m glad that revelation didn’t play out as dramatically as I’d feared.

Overall, The Amish Midwife’s Secret is a sweet, heartwarming romance. Leah and Kyle are, quite simply, good for each other, and you can’t help but wish them on towards a happily ever after.

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Thank you to Forever Romance for an egalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.